Paintbrush holder

ABSTRACT

A paintbrush holder having a receptacle for receiving and holding a paintbrush and a first bracket adjacent the top end of the receptacle and projecting rearwardly from the rear wall of the receptacle to hang over the upper rim of a cylindrical paint container. In addition, a second bracket is also provided on the rear wall of the receptacle under the first bracket for removably attaching the receptacle also to shallow paint containers such as a paint roller pan.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to painting aids, and more particularly to a paintbrush holder attachable to paint containers of various size and shape.

Various types of paintbrush holders have been devised for holding or storing a paintbrush for a relatively short period of time on a paint container. The paintbrush is thus out of the way while temporarily not in use and such a paint holder keeps paint off the handle of the paintbrush and off of the hands of the painter. However, a shortcoming of presently known paintbrush holders is that they are not sufficiently versatile whereby they will readily attach to many different containers, such as a one quart, one gallon, or a five gallon paint can, and additionally, will attach to a household pail and also, attach to a one gallon roller tray either positioned on the floor or on a stepladder, or on commercial roller trays. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a versatile paintbrush holder.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The paintbrush holder of the present invention is comprised of an open top receptacle for receiving and holding a paintbrush. The receptacle has a bottom, front and rear walls and side walls. A first bracket is provided on the rear wall of the receptacle for removably attaching the receptacle to a paint container. This first bracket has a first arm projecting rearwardly from the rear wall adjacent to the top of the container and the bracket has a downwardly projecting first lip for hanging the receptacle on an upper rim of an open paint container.

A second bracket is provided also on the rear wall of the receptacle and positioned under the first bracket for removably attaching the receptacle to a shallow paint container such as a roller pan. This second bracket has at least one second arm projecting rearwardly from the rear wall of the receptacle intermediate the first arm and the bottom of the container. This second arm is provided with a downwardly projecting second lip for hanging the receptacle on the rim of an open shallow paint container such as a roller pan.

More specifically it is preferred that the receptacle and the brackets are provided as a unitary molded plastic body which is resistant to solvents, corrosion and rust. The second bracket includes two second arms comprised of two spaced vertical ribs having the afore-described second lips protruding from bottom ends of these ribs with the first lip of the upper bracket projecting intermediate these ribs of the second bracket whereby the vertical ribs will engage exterior surfaces of the cylindrical walled paint container regardless of the container diameter while the first lip engages and hangs over top of the rim of the cylindrical paint container. The two lower second spaced brackets readily permit the receptacle to be hung on the side of a shallow paint container such as a paint roller pan.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claims. The accompanying drawings show, for the purpose of exemplification, without limiting the scope of the invention or the appended claims, certain practical embodiments of the present invention wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view in back elevation of the paintbrush holder of the present invention with a paintbrush retained therein;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the paintbrush holder of FIG. 1 without the inclusion of the paintbrush and illustrating the brush holder as attached to the rim of a conventional one gallon paint container; and

FIG. 3 is a view in side elevation of the paintbrush holder shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 attached to the rim of a paint roller pan and without the inclusion of the paintbrush.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, the paintbrush holder 10 of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1 with a paintbrush 11 resting therein. The paintbrush holder 10 includes an open top receptacle 12 having a bottom 13, front and rear walls 14 and 15 respectively, and side walls 16.

A first bracket 17 is provided on rear wall 15 for removably attaching the receptacle 12 to a paint container 20 illustrated in FIG. 2. This first bracket 17 has a first horizontal arm 18 projecting rearwardly from rear wall 15 adjacent the top 21 of receptacle 12. Arm 17 is further provided with a downwardly projecting first lip 19 for hanging the receptacle 12 on an upper rim 23 of an open paint container 20 as illustrated in FIG. 2.

A second bracket 24 is provided also on rear wall 15 and positioned under first bracket 17 for removably attaching receptacle 12 to a shallow paint container such as paint roller pan 25 illustrated in cross section in FIG. 3. Second bracket 24 is here provided in multiple or in a spaced pair on the back 15 of receptacle 12. Second brackets 24 each have a second arm 26 projecting rearwardly from the rear wall 15 of receptacle 12 intermediate first arm 17 and bottom 13. Each of the second brackets 24 are also provided with downwardly projecting second lips 27 for hanging the receptacle 12 on the rim of open shallow paint roller pan 25.

The receptacle 12 and brackets 17 and 24 are all unitarily molded of a suitable plastic which is solvent resistant. The two second brackets 24 also provide two spaced vertical ribs 28 from which the second lips 27 protrude from the bottom ends thereof. First downwardly protruding lip 19 projects intermediate these vertical ribs 28 whereby the ribs will engage exteriors surfaces 30 of cylindrical walled paint container 20, regardless of the diameter of the conventional cylindrical paint container 20. Thus the brackets are so designed to hang on the top rim of any conventional cylindrical paint container no matter whether it is a quart, one gallon, or five gallon can or a bucket or pail. Nevertheless, the shallower brackets 24 also make the paintbrush holder 10 extremely versatile by permitting the receptacle 12 to also be easily hooked onto the upper rim of an open conventional paint roller pan 25 as illustrated in FIG. 3. 

1. A paintbrush holder comprising: an open top receptacle for receiving and holding a paint brush and having a bottom, front and rear walls and side walls; a first bracket on said rear wall for removably attaching said receptacle to a paint container; said first bracket having a first arm projecting rearwardly from said rear wall adjacent to said top and having a downwardly projecting first lip for hanging said receptacle on an upper rim of an open paint container, a second bracket on said rear wall positioned under said first bracket for removably attaching said receptacle to a shallow paint container such as a roller pan; said second bracket having at least one second arm projecting rearwardly from said rear wall intermediate said first arm and said bottom and having a downwardly projecting second lip for hanging said receptacle on a rim of an open shallow paint container.
 2. The paint brush holder of claim 1, wherein said receptacle and said brackets are a unitary plastic body, said second bracket including two second arms comprised of two spaced vertical ribs having said second lips protruding from bottom ends of said ribs, said first lip projecting intermediate said ribs whereby said ribs will engage exterior surfaces of a cylindrical walled paint container regardless of the conventional container diameter selected while said first lip engages and hangs over a top rim for such container. 